Adam Hurt
Deemed a "banjo virtuoso" by the Washington Post, Adam Hurt has fused several traditional old-time idioms to create his own elegantly innovative clawhammer banjo style, having been introduced to the banjo at age eleven in his native Minnesota. A respected performer and teacher of traditional music, Adam has played at the Kennedy Center and conducted banjo workshops at many venues around the country and abroad. Adam has placed in or won most of the major old-time banjo competitions including Clifftop, Mount Airy, and Galax, and won the state banjo championships of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio, as well as the state fiddle championships of Virginia and Maryland. To read more about the virtuosic Adam Hurt, click here...
John Balch
John Balch is a clawhammer banjo player, builder, and teacher from Murfreesboro, TN. Like most musicians, he has many irons in the fire. John has released two solo albums (Carry On John /2002 and ~HOT~ Biscuit Jam /2004). He also played as part of “Pa’s fiddle band” on the CD: Happy Land Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder (Pa’s Fiddle recordings 2005). John is also a composer of new music for clawhammer banjo. Some of his original music was published on a CD which accompanied the book: The Voice of The Heart by Chip Dodd (Providence House Publishing 2001). To learn more about the well-rounded John Balch, click here...
Lukas Pool
Lukas grew up in Mountain View, Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains where he started playing banjo at the age of 12. Most nights were spent on the courthouse square with his friends and family learning and growing with the music. His father, Scott Pool, began building banjos when Lukas was young and taught him the ins and outs of woodworking, instrument repair, and building banjos. In 2008 Lukas attended Berklee College Of Music where he studied under Matt Glaser, Darol Anger, John McGann and Bruce Molsky. Since graduating from Berklee in 2012 Lukas has had the honor of winning the national old-time banjo campion twice, recording with Darol Anger on his latest album ‘e and a’ and returning to Berklee as a guest professor. Lukas now lives in Mountain View, Arkansas where he builds banjos, plays, and teaches.
Tyler Andal
Tyler Andal is fast becoming one of the more lauded Renaissance men of acoustic music in Nashville, TN. As a luthier, Tyler is now the go-to "bow guy" working at The (legendary) Violin Shop. As a teacher, Tyler's fiddle and banjo students are winning contests and performing all over the country. To learn more about the awesome Tyler Andal, click here...